The Three Little Bentos

Monday, 7/9/12 - We had a baby playtime with my MOMS Club, followed by a kids cooking event for Z (which we ended up missing since she was having such a good time watching TV at our baby playdate, and the other mom and I were having a great time chatting!) Then swim classes for both girls (I finally managed to squeak Z into a time slot around E's baby class, so I don't have to make two trips each week!) And finally, a 90-minute drive (longer, since we hit rush-hour) to my sister's to spend a few days. So I packed two "lunches" for Z, as one of them would count as breakfast too, since we were heading out earlier than usual that day. Whew! Jam-packed day!

3 Little Piggies

Snow peas, Pink Dip, dye-free jellybeans, pink salt (in little orange box,)
hard-boiled egg, raspberries and blackberries

I hadn't really decided on an overall theme, but since I had randomly chosen to make a piggy egg using my Tovolo Ice Cream Sandwich Molds when she had asked for some hard boiled eggs a few days before, I went ahead and grabbed a piggy box to hold her jellybeans. That's two. I couldn't find the little box with the pig on it for the salt for her egg, so I grabbed the bunny one. (It's her special "pink salt" which she's so excited about, she'll try virtually anything I grind it out onto!)
You can pretend the box has the third little piggy, if it's what tips you over into the "this bento is awesome!!" category. If not, the cup holding her Pink Dip is actually one of the Silly Critter footed ones, and those stubby little legs look a lot like piggy legs!
She decided that the berries were bricks, and the peas were sticks and straw. Since apparently now I'm required to have every single item fit the theme. Except the jellybeans. I can put desserts in her lunches without worrying about the theme, apparently.
She also criticized me about the missing wolf, and didn't accept my explanation that she was the wolf huffing and puffing down their houses and gobbling them all up.

Mama's Lunch

Spinach salad w/grapes, carrots, almonds, raisins, dried berries, and dressing;
freeze-dried apples, lentil crackers, Very Pink Dip

After polishing off a bunch of her first lunch at the baby playdate, Z was still whining that she was hungry, so I threw my lunch at her offered her some of mine. She ate my raisins and apples, but left the dried berries since they have Red 40 (they were a free sample - I wouldn't have ordered them now that we're dye-free.) I sequestered them first, so she wouldn't have to examine closely. Turns out I needn't have bothered. The next night at dinner at my sister's house I let her have Red 40 fruit juice because I assumed it was safe and didn't read the label first! Gah! I also tried to give her Life cereal for breakfast, which apparently has two different fake Yellows, but she opted for Bran Flakes instead. Phew!

Smile! It's Second Breakfast!

This one didn't really have a theme, but I had made her cauliflower-crust olive pizza with a smiley face on it with the plan that it would go into a fun lunch. She wasn't really as hungry for this one as expected, and the cauliflower crust was a little mushy in the mouth (will try to make it closer to the original recipe next time and hope it turns out less moist,) so she avoided it.

Spork (top bento) was because she likes using a fork for her eggs, and she loves using her sporks even more, even if she doesn't need both ends of it.
Salad fork (middle bento) is from Dollar Tree (BPA-free, set of 2 forks and 2 spoons plus travel case, $1 in the baby aisle) and my dressing cup is a Tupperware Smidget.
Pig and Cow containers from Target's after-Easter clearance. They came in a set of pre-filled farm-animal-shaped Easter eggs.